Spotlight: Dental coverage for kids
The time tax refers to the many hours that people spend doing paperwork or other tasks just to receive government services and supports. At its worst, the time tax can be regressive, wasteful, and ineffective. Despite this, the time tax often flies under the radar. We think it deserves more attention. This is the fifth article in our series on the time tax, the harms it causes, and how it might be fixed.
Hannah is 7 years old, living in Hamilton, Ontario, with a toothache that just won’t go away. Her parents, Ali and Sarah, are getting worried since it has been a few days without any improvement.
Since Ali and Sarah moved to Canada two years ago, they haven’t been able to bring Hannah to the dentist. Like one-third of Canadians, neither Sarah nor Ali’s employers provide them with dental coverage; Ali works full-time as a gas station attendant, while Sarah works part-time at a grocery store in the evenings.
Given the amount of pain Hannah is in, they book an appointment at a nearby dentist. It turns out Hannah has three cavities that will need to be filled. The dental office gives them the bill for the current appointment and a quote for the fillings. As a family already living paycheque to paycheque, they aren’t sure how they will be able to afford this unexpected expense.
As recent immigrants, Ali and Sarah aren’t fully aware of the dental benefits for children of low-income families, but the receptionist mentions that they might be able to apply for the Canada Dental Benefit. It won’t cover their bill today, but they’re told they could receive up to $650 to help cover the costs.
The Canada Dental Benefit launched in December 2022 as an interim program with plans to expand to a universal dental care program by 2025. Right now, the Canada Dental Benefit is available to children under the age of 12 from low to middle-income families (making less than $90,000 a year) who do not have access to private dental insurance. Depending on the family’s income, they can receive a tax-free payment of $260, $390, or $650 per child for each annual benefit period.
The process of applying to the Canada Dental Benefit itself is not particularly difficult — at least compared to many other programs. However, in order to apply to the Canada Dental Benefit, you must navigate a number of administrative hurdles related to other programs to prove your eligibility for the Canada Dental Benefit.
First, families have to determine that they are ineligible to have their dental costs fully covered by municipal and provincial programs before they are allowed to apply for the Canada Dental Benefit. In Ali and Sarah’s case, they don’t qualify for Healthy Smiles Ontario Program since their family net income is over $24,930. Figuring out eligibility for municipal programs will be harder for them because programs vary and there is limited information available online. The fact that this eligibility might be unclear — and particularly the concern that getting it wrong could negatively affect their immigration status — could be enough to stop them from pursuing this.
Secondly, to qualify for the Canada Dental Benefit families also have to have filed their taxes for the previous year. Thankfully, Sarah and Ali did, but as many as 12% of Canadian families do not.
Lastly, families have to be receiving the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) to be eligible for the Canada Dental Benefit. While CCB applications are integrated into tax-filing, new immigrants have an extra layer of paperwork to prove the birth of the child, that the parents live in Canada and that they are the primary caregivers. While it was estimated that 97% of eligible families receive the Canada Child Benefit in 2017, new immigrants and Indigenous people often faced addition barriers with the application process for reasons including language barriers and personal family circumstances.
If Sarah and Ali had not yet applied to the CCB, it might easily take them a week to compile all the necessary documents, and then another 8 weeks for the CRA to process the application. In this time, if Hannah went back to the dentist to get her filings, her parents would have to put the cost on their credit card, unsure how they would be able to pay it off before their bill came due.
Sarah and Ali confirm their eligibility and submit their application for the Canada Dental Benefit. After 10 days, they receive the $650. This processing time for this application is faster than most. While the Canada Dental Benefit is a positive step forward in providing accessible dental care to Canadian families, the process is much more onerous than for people with private insurance who often have direct billing or at least filing on their behalf by the dentist. And when compared to other healthcare services in Canada where Canadians just need to present their health card to receive care, the Canada Dental Benefit is a much more cumbersome process.
As Canada expands public dental coverage, governments should take into account the time cost alongside the financial costs to ensure the program is truly accessible for everyone.
By Stephanie Bertolo
